Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey, is a Crown dependency of the United Kingdom in the English Channel.
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History
The Bailiwick of Guernsey, off the coast of Normandy, France, forms, together with the Bailiwick of Jersey, the grouping known as the Channel Islands. The defense of all these islands is the responsibility of the United Kingdom. However, Guernsey is not part of the UK, nor the European Union, but is rather a separate possession of the Crown, comparable to the Isle of Man. Guernsey belongs to the Common Travel Area.
WWII
While the Île de Cézembre, located off the coast of Saint-Malo, surrendered to the Allies on 2 September 1944, the remaining Channel Islands remained in German hands until the end of the war, surrendering on 9 May 1945. The Sea Commandant, Vice Admiral Friedrich Hüffmeier, did not limit himself to holding the position but used the position to launch offensive attacks against the Allies, at least in small incursions, while simultaneously improving his own precarious supply situation. These operations included the surprise attack on Granville on 8 and 9 March 1945.
Surrender
On 7 May 1945, Reich President Karl Dönitz ordered all German armed forces to surrender. Friedrich Hüffmeier surrendered under this order from the highest authority – without carrying out his threat to first blow up all weapons and ammunition stocks. On 8 May 1945, Freiherr von Aufseß spoke in the government building on Guernsey. He spoke in perfect English and was unequivocal in his statement: "The war is over. We hereby return the islands to you." The formal surrender took place the next day, 9 May 1945, aboard the ship HMS "Beagle" near Jersey.
- HMS Beagle arrived in the Channel Islands and landed at St Helier on Jersey on 9 May 1945 and accepted the German forces' unconditional surrender. Two members of the crew were met by the harbourmaster, who escorted them to his office where they together hoisted the Union Flag, before also raising it on the flagstaff of the Pomme D'Or Hotel. Her sister HMS Bulldog arrived at St Peter Port in Guernsey on the same date to accept the German surrender on that island.
The surrender negotiations for the Channel Islands on board HMS "Bulldog" were conducted on behalf of the occupiers by 27-year-old Lieutenant Captain (Kapitänleutnant) Armin Zimmermann, commander of the 46th Minesweeping Flotilla. He was the youngest flotilla commander in the Kriegsmarine. There, among other things, he played a key role in planning the surprise attack on Granville in March 1945, one of the last offensive actions of the Kriegsmarine. He was severely wounded during the war. Zimmermann received the German Cross in Gold as its highest war decoration.
At the end of the war, he was taken prisoner by the British in the Channel Islands. He then served with the German Mine Clearance Service until 1947 as commander, flotilla commander, and liaison officer to the British staff, participating in the clearance of sea mines along the German coast. At the beginning of 1948, he joined the Cuxhaven Mine Clearance Unit, where he continued his service. He remained in Cuxhaven after its dissolution in the summer of 1951 and became head of the expert group for mine issues at the Naval Service Group (Royal Navy).
In 1956, Zimmermann was commissioned into the new German Navy as a corvette captain. He served for a time as German naval attaché in London and as squadron commander of a minesweeping squadron. He was deployed several times to the Federal Ministry of Defense and held the positions of Commander of the Naval Forces North Sea and Commander of the Fleet. On 1 April 1972, Admiral Zimmermann became the first naval officer to be appointed Inspector General of the Bundeswehr. In October 1976, he was awarded the Grand Cross of Merit with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In June 1976, Zimmermann suffered a severe skull injury during a fainting spell resulting from his war wound, from which he died in office on 30 November 1976.
